


The Phantom Agony

by allofthefandoms



Category: Lord of the Rings (Movies), Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Angst, Drabble, F/M, POV First Person
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-06-22
Updated: 2012-06-22
Packaged: 2017-11-08 08:30:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 416
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/441212
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/allofthefandoms/pseuds/allofthefandoms
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>On the way to a hopeless war, Aragorn can only think of the one he loves.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Phantom Agony

**Author's Note:**

> I can't hear you  
> I can't see you  
> Do you still exist?  
> I can't hear you  
> I can't touch you  
> Do you exist?
> 
> ~The Phantom Agony by Epica
> 
>  
> 
> Three guesses as to what I watched tonight. Oh, and the first two don't count…Yes, I was watching the Return of the King. This plot-bunny was particularly vicious and I got most of it down before I even finished the movie, but then I was stuck for a title, turned on my music and was listening to The Phantom Agony by Epica when I realized that it was a perfect title. Funny the way inspiration works.

Aragorn's POV

I'm marching off to some great unknown ending, not knowing if there is an end to this darkness. I don't know if I'll find you at the end of the darkness if it should ever end. I don't know if I will see the end of this darkness even if it does end and the sun rise again. The armies of the west stretch out behind me, silhouetted by the golden setting sun. They follow me to some unforetold destiny. The future dances before my eyes. But it is not my future. This future belongs to others. Somehow, I don't believe I will live to see it. What I see is someone else's freedom, freedom that I, and those who follow me, will buy with death and blood. Death will be our victory, and yet it will be so bitterly bought. But buy it we must or all will be lost in flames and darkness. But I keep nothing. And even now I can see you dying. There are leaves swirling around you, brown and withered and there are tears flowing silently down your face. You stand on the marble balcony of our home, but the very air is faded. The black gown you wear shows the sallowness of your skin and your eyes are dark. Your face is devoid of all hope. You turn, and your footsteps echo the beating of the drums. You glide away to the fading woods surrounding you, and their sadness pales beside yours. I took away your future too, so others might have one. But it breaks me, and all I want to do is turn and run to you, but I cannot. I cannot.

I can see my grief mirrored in the eyes of those around me, seasoned warriors, all of them. They too, know that there is only one hope. Hope that we will give the ring-bearer enough time. But how much time we can buy with this army, the last mustering of men? There is no escape, no other choice, but the choice burns bitter all the same. But now that the choice has been made and my heart steeled, I would have you know just one thing: If I live to see the sunrise, I will come for you. I swear by the last things I hold sacred. By the vows we made in Lorien, I will come for you. And flowers will bloom for us again. And there will be no more darkness.


End file.
